Members of the Aguilar family, who are struggling to buy an adequate amount of food, pose for a picture inside their house in San Yuyo, on the outskirts of Japala in central Guatemala, last week. (Rodrigo Abd/Associated Press)Thousands of families in Guatemala are desperately short of food after a combination of dry weather and poor soil has resulted in the failure of corn and bean crops in the east of the country, a United Nations official says.

Guatemalan authorities said the food lack is said to be greatest in a "dry corridor" in six provinces, a region that has had little rain in recent months due to the effects of El Nino. About 25 children have died of malnutrition in the region this year, authorities said.

Up to 54,000 families who live in the corridor are affected by the scarcity. High food prices are exacerbating the situation, the UN World Food Programme said.

The Red Cross said Friday that its staff in Guatemala are getting ready to draw up a plan to deal with the food shortage before launching an international appeal for funds. Aid workers said they want to determine the scope of the problem first.

Corn tortillas sit next to tomato sauce at the Aguilar family's kitchen in San Yuyo. Last Tuesday, the federal government declared a "state of public calamity" to help mobilize funds and resources to combat a food shortage. (Rodrigo Abd/Associated Press)

Josette Sheeran, executive director of the World Food Programme, said in a statement from Rome on Friday that the food shortage is of "deep concern" to the UN agency, which has already distributed food parcels to more than 400,000 people with the help of local authorities.

"Women and children have been caught in the vortex of this hunger crisis and are in a desperate struggle for survival," she said.

Last week, Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom declared what he called a "state of public calamity" in a bid to elicit funds from other countries.

"This will help access resources from the international community that are generously offered for this type of situation and to mobilize national resources more rapidly," Colom said in a statement issued from Guatemala City on Tuesday.

More than 90 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition were admitted to hospital in the province of Jalapa in August, three times higher than the same month last year. And of the 117 children taken to hospital between January and July for malnutrition, 17 have died, the World Food Programme said in a report last week.

In Guatemala, a country of 13 million people, 50 per cent of children under age five suffer from malnourishment.

The World Food Programme said the food shortage has been intensified by low food stocks due to previous crop losses, as well as falling exports, foreign investment, tourism revenues and access to credit.

With files from The Associated Press